2002 Chateau Souverain Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Chateau Souverain has for years been one of my favorite wineries for consistent, high quality Sonoma County wines. I still remember picking up half a dozen bottles of their excellent 1990 Dry Creek Zin at Yankee Spirits in Massachusetts for about $5.99/bottle. While such prices are long gone, this winery still beats most of the larger, high quality California wineries on price.

The 2002 Alexander Valley Cabernet is typical of the region, typical of Chateau Souverain's style, and darn good. Sporting a deep, saturated black ruby color, with a purple tinge to it, the wine leads with terrific, deep-toned scents of sweet cassis and blueberries, with caramelly-sweet, smoky, gravelly scents as well. Very concentrated smoky fruit, with full body, nice length, and great balance. Very drinkable now, this wine will easily last and improve for 3 to 4 years, minimum. 90+

I got this for $19.50 on sale at Fiesta (the one near Reliant Stadium, which, by the way, is my favorite grocery store in the city! . . . incredible selection of fresh produce, diverse ethnic foods, and unusual cuts of meat). It was my "Saturday night splurge" wine, but that's still a great price for Cabernet of this quality.